Serendipitously during our September 2009 UTZ Kapeh discovery trip, Roy and Debra Seyforth, the owners of Emerald Mountain, sat next to Dunn Bros Coffee’s green coffee buyer on a plane to Nicaragua. Pleasantries led the conversation to one anothers’ backgrounds and what each of them hoped to accomplish on the trip. After a brief explanation of Dunn Bros Coffee, Roy was bursting with excitement explaining how the couple had just fulfilled their dream of purchasing a coffee farm. After parting, Roy, Debra and Dunn Bros Coffee kept in touch and in early 2010 Dunn Bros Coffee successfully introduced the Seyforths to UTZ Kapeh by arranging agronomist meetings and farm visits.
Severe farm management and labor housekeeping changes in 2010-2011 made it hard to finish the UTZ certification process, however, they are committed to moving in this direction. Dunn Bros Coffee directly purchased coffee from Emerald Mountain farm in early 2011 and is excited to support the growth of this couple’s coffee farm.
Coffee in Nicaragua
Since coffee came to Nicaragua in the mid 1800’s, it has played a significant role in Nicaragua’s economy and environment. Coffee has been an engine for Nicaragua’s national economic development process. It is among the nation’s primary sources of foreign exchange and provides the economic backbone for thousands of rural communities. More than 40,000 coffee-farming families cultivate coffee in a way that preserves Nicaragua’s precious forests and threatened biodiversity.
Most of Nicaragua’s coffee production comes from three regions within Nicaragua’s Central northern mountains which include: Las Segovias, Matagalpa and Jinotega. These areas possess rich volcanic soils, a humid tropical forest climate, and lush vegetation, including a great variety of lichens, moss, ferns, and orchids.
Ninety-five percent of Nicaragua’s coffee cultivation is “shade grown.” Farmers cultivate shade coffee under the canopy of native and exotic trees. These trees and the farmers’ management practices help sustain ecosystem services such as biodiversity, soil and water conservation. As Nicaragua’s environment suffers high rates of deforestation, soil erosion and water contamination, the 108,000 hectares of coffee land become increasingly important for the production of environmental services.
An estimated 95% of Nicaragua’s coffee farmers are micro and small-scale producers. The family is the primary source of labor on these farms. These households often produce corn and beans, and/or work off the farm. In contrast to the micro-producers, the small scale farmers generally employ day laborers during the coffee harvest. Most Nicaraguan small-scale farmers grow more than half of the food they eat. These farmers intercrop bananas, oranges, mangos and trees for firewood and construction within their coffee parcels.
